


a comet pulled from orbit

by cosmic_llin



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Established Relationship, F/F, Friendship, Light Angst, Mirror Universe, Self-Reflection, Truth Serum
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:07:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25527169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmic_llin/pseuds/cosmic_llin
Summary: A potion accident sends Hecate to an alternate timeline where Miss Hardbroom is fun and easy-going, while Miss Cackle is strict and severe.
Relationships: Ada Cackle/Hecate Hardbroom, Dimity Drill & Hecate Hardbroom
Comments: 22
Kudos: 75
Collections: The Hackle Summer Trope Challenge





	a comet pulled from orbit

**Author's Note:**

> This story is set partway through Series 4.

Hecate felt cold stone against her cheek, and thought groggily that she must have blacked out. Where was she? What had she been doing?

‘Joy?’

No, that wasn’t right.

‘Joy, are you ok?’

That was Dimity, who shouldn’t even _know_ her first name.

Hecate pushed herself to sitting, head swimming, and found Dimity kneeling anxiously beside her.

‘What happened?’ Dimity asked.

Hecate blinked, and as her vision began to clear, so did her memory. ‘Potion accident…I think...’ she said. ‘Shelf collapsed… splashed me...’

But where was the spilled potion, and the shards of glass? And why did her lab look different? A rainbow of colours danced at her, and when she peered closer she could see bright posters and decorations.

‘Was it because you fell off these ludicrous shoes?’ Dimity asked.

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘What’s up with the outfit, anyway? Experimenting with a new look?’

Hecate looked down, but she was dressed the same as always, in sensible, hard-wearing black. Her shoes were the ones she wore every day - tall enough to help her keep her authority over the tallest girls, but certainly nothing outlandish.

‘I know you live to mock me but perhaps you could help me up first?’ she snapped.

Dimity’s eyes widened as she gave Hecate her hand and hauled her upright. ‘Joy, what’s the matter?’

‘And stop calling me that!’ Hecate pulled her hand away as if it had been burned.

‘What else would I call you?’

Hecate frowned. Dimity did look genuinely confused, and her mockery wasn’t normally this subtle. And where was her cane? Should she have been able to pull Hecate up so easily, with her magical muscle injury? If only her head would clear, she could work out what this all meant…

The lab door opened, and someone else came in. Someone in a wine-red dress that floated as she walked. Someone with dark hair spilling over her shoulders. 

Someone who looked almost exactly like Hecate.

‘Joy!’ said Dimity. ‘But if…’

She looked from one to the other.

The other Hecate stopped in her tracks. ‘Dimity…’ she said slowly. ‘Who is this?’

‘I thought it was you!’

‘Who are you?’ the other Hecate demanded.

‘Who are _you_?’ Hecate shot back.

They stared at each other for a long moment. Dimity backed slowly away from Hecate.

Her skull throbbed. ‘The potions…’ she said. ‘I think there was a time potion on that shelf…’

She knew there had been, as well as several other volatile mixtures. It had been the remains of the potion she’d used to send Indigo back to her mother. Extremely poor procedure - it should have been destroyed after use. But somehow she hadn’t been able to bring herself to get rid of it, so she’d bottled it and put it aside, promising herself she’d dispose of it later.

Which meant she only had herself to blame for this mess.

She’d heard of it before - people slipping sideways into another version of the world, one where time had spun away in another direction from some crucial point. It was one of the reasons time spells were discouraged - so much could go wrong.

That could explain why this other version of her was so unlike her. Something in her life had happened differently, setting her on a different path.

‘Whatever’s happening, we should tell Miss Cackle about this,’ said Dimity.

The other Hecate - Joy, she supposed - groaned. ‘She’s not going to like it.’

‘She’ll like it even less if we don’t tell her,’ said Dimity.

Joy nodded an acknowledgement, then took out her maglet and sent a quick message, presumably summoning Ada.

They waited a few moments. The other two didn’t take their eyes off Hecate, clearly not sure whether to trust her. Hecate knew the feeling, but once Ada arrived, everything would be all right. Hecate felt sure she would be able to make her understand, and once Ada had taken charge, things would get better.

The seconds ticked by in uncomfortable silence. The other version of her drummed her fingers on her thigh, the same way Hecate did when she was anxious. Hecate stopped herself from doing the same.

Ada entered.

Hecate stifled a gasp.

She had thought that Ada was a safe constant, a star she could follow - even in this strange place.

But this Ada was clearly not like her own. Her hair was tied in a tight, low bun, and she wore a steel-grey suit, without a scrap of pink anywhere to be seen. Her eyes were as bright as the real Ada’s, but without the softness Hecate knew. Her mouth was set in a stern line.

‘This is the last thing we need at the moment,’ she said as she entered. ‘Would you care to explain who you are and where you’ve come from?’

‘I’m Hecate Hardbroom,’ Hecate said. ‘Potions mistress at Cackle’s Academy. Or at one version of it, anyway. The last thing I remember is a shelf collapsing in the lab, potions falling on the floor, splashing me… and then I woke up here. I can only guess that I’ve slipped sideways through time… there was at least one time potion on the shelf that broke.’

‘Hmmm,’ said Ada flatly. ‘A plausible enough story, but plenty of stories are. We’ve dealt with imposters before. You’ll have to take a truth potion. Or if you prefer I can summon the authorities to deal with you. Until we know you are who you say you are, I have to assume you’re a threat to my school.’

A truth potion was no trifling matter, but she’d a thousand times rather that indignity than be carried away like some sort of criminal.

‘Of… of course,’ said Hecate. ‘Whatever you need.’

She watched as Ada fetched a truth potion from the shelf. Her posture was ramrod-straight. What had happened to make her like this? What could have put that ice in her voice, that flintiness in her gaze?

‘Drink this,’ ordered Ada, handing her the bottle of potion.

Hecate looked at it, and her hand shook a little. A truth potion compelled more than truth - it lowered the defences, opened the floodgates of candour. It would prove to them that she was who she said she was, but it would also lay her open to them, unable to hide any part of herself. She had no idea whether she could trust them to be kind to her, and yet what choice did she have?

‘Immediately, please,’ said Ada.

If her own Ada had asked this, she would have done it with no hesitation, no matter the reason. She couldn’t hesitate now either - not if she wanted the freedom to find her way home.

She drank, and the potion slid down her throat. She could feel its magic working on her almost instantly, loosening her tongue and her control of herself.

‘Who are you, and why are you here?’ asked Ada.

‘I’m Hecate Hardbroom,’ said Hecate, ‘and I came here by accident due to a potion spillage in my lab. I’d been thinking for a while that I ought to replace that shelf, it was getting more rickety by the day, but somehow there always seemed to be something more important to do…’

The potion was making her ramble, but Ada cut her off. ‘Do you mean us any harm?’

‘No, I couldn’t imagine harming you. Or anyone here. This is my home. Or at least, it’s something like it.’ She gestured at Joy. ‘I don’t know why she put all these posters up. Too much visual clutter is a distraction.’

‘And do you promise to treat my word as law while you’re here?’

‘I don’t know,’ Hecate couldn’t help answering. ‘I don’t know enough about you to be sure that I can trust you. If you were my Ada then of course, but you seem so different…’

‘She’s got a point,’ said Joy. ‘She’s got no reason to trust us, any more than we have to trust her.’

‘I’ll still do my best to abide by your rules,’ Hecate said. ‘I have no intention of making trouble.’

‘We’ll keep an eye on her,’ said Dimity.

Ada frowned. ‘I suppose that will do for now,’ she said. ‘Miss Hardbroom… see what you can find out about how to send her back to her proper timeline.’

She turned and stalked away.

‘Why is she like that?’ Hecate asked, the question slipping out before she could stop it.

‘Like what?’ said Joy.

‘So… serious.’

Dimity shrugged. ‘Who knows? She’s always been that way, as far as I can tell.’

‘She’s not like my Ada,’ Hecate said. ‘I hope she’s all right. Do you think she’s worried about me? Perhaps they don’t even know that I’m gone yet…’

‘I’m sure we’ll get you back to your own world soon,’ said Joy. ‘In the meantime, perhaps you should rest for a while. I imagine all of this is a bit disorienting, and the truth potion can’t have helped either - those things have quite a kick, or so I’ve heard. Come up to my room, you’ll be safe there.’

‘I want to find a way back,’ said Hecate. ‘I’ll need access to your library, and your lab.’

‘Of course,’ said Joy. ‘But please, rest a bit first? You look pale.’

‘I do feel rather shaky,’ Hecate admitted.

‘Let me transfer us there,’ said Joy. ‘Save you walking up the stairs.’

It was a curious sensation, tasting her own magic without being the one to cast it, but Joy’s spell was as crisp and efficient as her own would have been, a neat fold in space that landed them gently in Joy’s room. It made Hecate a little more inclined to trust her.

If it hadn’t been the same shape and size as hers, Hecate wouldn’t have recognised the room. For one thing, it was cluttered - as a child Hecate had liked things to be neat but always had trouble keeping them that way. Ruthless self-discipline had given her better habits, but she had to admit that Joy’s room, with its haphazard stacks of books and its colourful postcards and cushions, had a certain charm.

‘Sit down,’ said Joy. ‘I’ll fetch you a glass of water.’

Hecate sat, on a green striped couch that seemed to match nothing else in the room. A small black shape sprang into her lap and got comfortable. 

‘Looks like Morgana doesn’t have any doubt about who you are…’ said Joy, returning from the bathroom with a half-laugh.

Hecate knew herself well enough to recognise discomfort on her own face. ‘I can make her move, if you want?’ she offered, taking the water.

‘No,’ Joy said, sitting down opposite Hecate on a wicker chair that looked much repaired. ‘I admit I feel a bit jealous, but I trust Morgana’s judgement.’

‘I’m not sure I would be as generous in your position,’ Hecate admitted. ‘In fact, I’m sure I’d be seething. I even occasionally get a little testy when Morgana asks Ada for treats before me…’

Joy looked thoughtfully at her. ‘You keep calling her by her first name. Are you and Miss Cackle... close, then, in your reality?’

‘She’s the most important person in the world to me,’ Hecate said, stroking Morgana’s head as she spoke. ‘I love her to distraction, even after all this time, and she feels the same about me. I’ve never felt closer to anyone in all my life.’

‘That’s… well, I’m surprised, but that sounds wonderful,’ said Joy.

‘Are the two of you… not close?’ Hecate asked. It was difficult to imagine.

Joy shook her head. ‘I have a great deal of respect for her, of course. She’s a ruthlessly efficient headmistress. I’ve never even worked closely with her. I can’t imagine… she’s just so…’

‘You’re not the deputy headmistress?’

‘There isn’t one. Miss Cackle insists she doesn’t need one and it would only confuse the chain of command.’

Hecate thought of all the hours she and Ada had spent together, over tea and biscuits and paperwork that went faster with two. All the times Ada had sought her counsel over a difficult decision.

‘She must be so lonely,’ she said.

Joy shrugged. ‘I imagine she is, but it’s not any of our place to ask. Now, why don’t you rest up here while I go down to dinner, and I’ll bring you something too, if you’re hungry? Then, if you don’t mind sharing my bed, you can sleep here for the night and in the morning we’ll see what we can do about sending you home.’

‘You seem very kind,’ said Hecate. 

Joy laughed. ‘I hope so. I try to be, anyway.’

While Joy was gone, Hecate explored her room. She probably wouldn’t have done it, in her ordinary state, but the truth potion seemed to have temporarily dampened her sense of propriety. And besides, it was sort of her room as well.

Joy had lots of books, just as she did - some the same and some different. Her clothes - Hecate opened the big wardrobe - were nothing like her own. As well as postcards from, it seemed, many friends around the world, her shelves were crammed with knick-knacks and souvenirs, as though she had travelled. As though she had never confined herself to the castle.

Joy returned later with a tray of food, as promised, and by the time Hecate had eaten it she couldn’t keep from yawning for more than two minutes at a stretch.

‘You’ve had a trying day,’ Joy said. ‘It’s not surprising you’re worn out. Let me find you something to wear to bed.’

The _something_ was, abominably, an oversized t-shirt from a music festival, but since there was nothing else on offer, Hecate put it on.

Once they were both wearing Joy’s nightclothes, both clean of makeup and with their hair plaited for sleep, the differences between them seemed smaller. They got into the bed and Hecate turned on her side to look at Joy, lying on her back. This close to her face, in the light from the lamp on Joy’s bedside table, she could see the tiny differences in the lines around her eyes and mouth. Did they mark the times Joy had smiled when Hecate had frowned? Or was it more complicated than that? Joy seemed so much more relaxed than Hecate was, and clearly in some ways her life had been fuller, but then, she’d never had Hecate’s years with Ada, either.

‘What do you think about me?’ she asked Joy.

‘I don’t know,’ said Joy. ‘It’s hard to tell, with the truth potion making you a bit loopy. But I was surprised at the way you looked, when you first appeared. Why do you wear your hair in such a tight bun? Do you like it better?’

‘The question is why you don’t,’ said Hecate. ‘I hope you don’t allow your students to have their hair loose in the lab? It’s an accident waiting to happen.’

Joy laughed. ‘Of course I tie it up when there are potions about. I just let it down after lessons.’

‘I think we must be very different,’ said Hecate.

‘I’m getting that impression,’ said Joy. ‘I wonder why?’

She turned on her side too, so that she and Hecate were looking directly at each other, mirror images.

‘I’ve been thinking about it,’ said Hecate. ‘And I wonder if… I think perhaps it’s to do with Indigo.’

‘... the colour?’

Well, that more or less confirmed it. Nobody who had met Indigo Moon, even for just a moment, could possibly have forgotten her.

‘Indigo Moon,’ said Hecate, past the lump that had formed in her throat. ‘I gather the name isn’t familiar to you?’

‘Not at all.’

‘When you were young… did you never yearn to explore the non-magical world?’

‘Oh, I definitely did,’ Joy said, with a grin that made her look suddenly younger, more like the girl Hecate remembered being. ‘But I never did anything about it.’

‘I did,’ said Hecate. ‘When I was a girl, at school here, I used to sneak away sometimes and watch the people…’

‘Sneak away? How did you manage that?’

‘It was never very difficult,’ said Hecate. 

‘But how did you get past the sentry spells, and the guard witches?’

Hecate’s eyes widened. Who would have such things, in a school? ‘There… there never were any. Just the usual protection spells, and they were easy enough to slip past.’

‘Well, that explains it,’ said Joy. ‘When I was at school here, the rules were much stricter. Sneaking away would have been impossible. Still would be. Even the teachers have to sign in and out.’

‘... oh,’ said Hecate, in a small voice. A tear slid down her nose. Could it have been that easy? Could someone have simply… paid attention, and stopped her before she had the chance to get hurt?

Damn this truth potion. It was playing havoc with her emotions.

‘Are you all right?’ Joy asked.

And Hecate, helpless to stop herself, spilled out the whole story of Indigo, everything that had happened then and everything that had happened since, and everything she had felt about all of it.

This was what she’d been afraid of, when she’d taken the truth potion. Nothing to protect these parts of her that hurt to touch. But telling the story to Joy by the glow of her bedside lamp didn’t feel like the violation she had feared.

‘That must have been so hard,’ Joy said when she had finished, and Hecate thought she could see tears glistening in her eyes. ‘I’m so sorry that you weren’t taken better care of, Hecate.’

‘It’s all right,’ Hecate said. ‘I’m not unhappy now. I’m the furthest I could be from it.’

‘Still,’ said Joy. 

They lay looking at each other for a long moment, and then Joy leaned over, kissed Hecate’s forehead, and turned out the light.

As Hecate drifted to sleep, she felt the small but unmistakable motion of Morgana, jumping onto the bed and making herself comfortable between the two of them.

* * *

When morning came the effects of the truth potion had worn off, but the affection that Hecate had begun to feel for Joy hadn’t. They got ready together, and when they both stood at the full-length mirror to check their appearances, Hecate smiled at the contrast, and Joy winked when she caught her looking.

The hall, set up for breakfast, looked more or less the same as the one she was familiar with, though the mix of people wasn’t quite the same.

Miss Bat was there, alone, which was odd. She and Mr Rowan-Webb never went anywhere separately if they could help it, and she could hardly blame them. She remarked on it to Joy, who said:

‘Mr who?’

Hecate felt the blood drain from her face. ‘You don’t know?’ she asked.

Joy shook her head. Hecate did some quick mental gymnastics.

‘What about Miss Gullet, do you know her?’

‘Oh, her,’ Joy said dismissively. ‘I’ve heard of her but never met her - before my time. Miss Cackle fired her years ago, she didn’t like her attitude.’

That was one potential problem already dealt with, at least. 

‘I’ll be back shortly,’ said Hecate, and transferred down to the pond, ignoring her rumbling stomach.

It took her a few minutes to find him - she tried a couple of actual frogs before finding the right one - but once she had him it took just a simple transformation spell and Mr Rowan-Webb was standing before her.

Ten minutes and one patient explanation later, she dragged him, still somewhat bewildered, back to the hall, where Miss Bat took one look at him and fainted.

* * *

When the commotion had died down, and after Miss Bat and Mr Rowan-Webb had both thanked her profusely, Hecate took Joy aside. 

‘Was there ever a student here called Mildred Hubble?’ she asked.

Joy’s face fell. ‘There almost was,’ she said. ‘A very promising girl from a non-magical background. She came to Selection Day, but she didn’t do well enough to get in. I argued for us to admit her anyway - she seemed to have so much raw talent, in spite of her lack of training - but Miss Cackle wouldn’t hear of it.’

‘In my reality, she’s in the running to be head girl,’ said Hecate.

‘Oh!’ said Joy. ‘Head girl? Really? That’s wonderful!’

‘She’s not what one would normally picture,’ Hecate said. ‘But she does seem to have a certain… knack for problem-solving, magical and otherwise.’

‘I’m glad she got the chance, at least in one reality,’ Joy said. ‘I’ve often wondered what became of her.’

‘She’s been a thorn in my side since she arrived at the school,’ Hecate admitted. ‘But I’d miss her now, if she wasn’t there.’

The morning’s drama had pushed her predicament into the background, but now homesickness rushed over her. She’d been missing overnight now. Ada must be worried sick.

‘Could we start work on finding a way for me to return home?’ she asked.

Joy nodded. ‘Of course. I can’t join you until this afternoon, my third-years have important preparations to make and I can’t cancel their lesson, but I’ll set you up in the library and I’m sure Dimity can help you.’

‘Oh, I’ll be fine on my own…’ Hecate began, but Joy was already transferring them to the library, where she left Hecate at a table, and then disappeared and reappeared with an armful of books.

‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘Just realised I’m running late already - I got to my lab and my class were already there. This should be enough to get you started.’

And then she was gone.

Dimity appeared a few minutes later, while Hecate was still making her initial assessment of which books were likeliest to be useful.

‘Joy said you might want some help, and this is my free lesson,’ she said cheerfully. ‘Just let me know what you need and I’ll get stuck in.’

Hecate gestured to one of the piles of books. ‘Any mention you can find of any circumstances similar to this would be helpful,’ she admitted, a little grudgingly.

Dimity nodded and opened the first book on the pile.

‘This must be so strange for you,’ she said, after a minute.

‘It is,’ Hecate agreed.

‘Am I still there, where you come from?’ Dimity asked. 

‘You certainly are.’

‘And… are we still best friends?’

Hecate looked sharply at her.

‘I’m sorry,’ said Dimity. ‘I shouldn’t bug you when you’ve been through enough as it is. I’m just curious, don’t mind me.’

‘We’re not best friends,’ Hecate said. ‘But… I have a great deal of respect for your counterpart. She is a competent teacher. And… I have often been glad of her presence in a crisis.’

Dimity smiled. ‘That’s good. I’d hate to think any version of me wasn’t a good teacher.’

‘You and Joy are best friends, then?’ Hecate asked, scanning the index of the latest book with half her attention.

‘Since she started teaching here,’ Dimity said. ‘I arrived a year or two before she did, and I think if she hadn’t shown up I would have left not long after. The atmosphere could be a bit… oppressive. It still can, but Joy just cuts through it somehow. She’s so warm and welcoming.’

In her distraction, Hecate almost missed what she was looking for, but there it was, page 378. An account of an incident very similar to this one.

‘Look!’ she said, and Dimity came over to see. ‘The same thing happened, a combination of a time potion and several others. They were able to return the victim to her proper timeline by creating a reversal potion. Oh, I wish I could remember exactly what had been on the shelf! It would be so much simpler to find a way to reverse it.’

‘Is there anything we could do to help you remember?’ Dimity asked. ‘A recall potion might bring some of it back. And if we could get you looking at the shelf, maybe organise it more like it is in your own lab, maybe that would jog things even more.’

‘That’s not a bad idea,’ said Hecate. ‘Do you think Joy would mind?’

‘I’m sure she wouldn’t,’ said Dimity. ‘The lesson will be over soon, let’s go and see.’

When they arrived, the bell had not yet rung and Joy was still teaching. She smiled and waved them both in without breaking her flow.

It was strange to watch her. Her style wasn’t completely unlike Hecate’s - she recognised the precision in her explanations, the way she moved around the class, offering small corrections, pausing now and then to demonstrate a technique - but the laughter was different, and so was the way she encouraged the girls to try different variations and see which worked best. Generations of witches had already answered these questions, and Hecate preferred not to reinvent the wheel. Then again, the girls seemed very engaged, and she couldn’t deny the pleasure she got from her own experiments. She would have to ask Joy later if it resulted in better exam performance.

The students were the same but different too. Hecate recognised perhaps two thirds of them. The rest were unfamiliar, and a few other faces were missing. Sybil Hallow and Beatrice Bunch were there - Sybil looking somehow even more nervous than Hecate remembered her, in spite of Joy’s friendliness - but she couldn’t spot Clarice Twigg or Mabel Tapioca. She wondered where they had ended up.

When the class finished, and she and Dimity explained their plan, Joy was enthusiastic.

‘I have a recall potion somewhere,’ she said. ‘Let me look for it while the two of you sort out the shelf.’

The shelf that had, in Hecate’s lab, contained bottles of completed potions, held ingredients here. She and Dimity began to move them to the desk, some by magic and other more delicate ones by hand.

‘Looks like the third-years are more than ready for the inspection,’ Dimity said conversationally.

‘Inspection?’ Hecate asked.

‘It’s tomorrow,’ said Dimity. ‘Miss Cackle says it’s routine and we were just randomly selected, but we only had the last one two years ago. I’m worried there might have been complaints. Some people feel her management style is a bit… old-fashioned.’

‘She does seem… strict,’ Hecate said.

‘Incredibly so,’ said Dimity. ‘And with the inspection coming up, she’s more rigid than ever. Everyone’s stressed - the girls, the teachers, the rest of the staff. She’s not a cruel person, don’t get the wrong idea. And I think she would have welcomed you a bit more warmly if she hadn’t been so preoccupied. But she’s… very fixed in her ideas.’

Hecate wondered briefly whether Dimity would have said that, had she known Hecate’s own reputation.

‘Here it is!’ said Joy, interrupting that train of thought.

Recall potion was much less effective than taking a memory potion before memorising information, but it could still help. Once the shelf was cleared, Hecate downed the draught, and pictured her own shelf in her mind.

‘The time potion was… here,’ she said, pointing. 

As she did, a ghostly image of the bottle appeared in the correct spot. She thought wistfully of Indigo, as she always did when she glanced in the bottle’s direction - but at least the potion, for all the problems it was causing now, had sent Indigo safely back to where she belonged.

‘And beside it was… a set of the seven standard healing potions,’ she continued. Those appeared on the shelf too. ‘And an extra one I’d been brewing for Miss Drill… and the one for Mrs Tapioca’s headaches…’

Gradually the shelf filled, and at last Hecate stepped back and looked at it, and was satisfied.

‘I suppose the next obstacle,’ said Joy, ‘is working out which ones combined to send you here. But this is an excellent start. Let’s stop for now and go to lunch.’

‘I’ll stay here and keep working,’ said Hecate. ‘I don’t mean any offence, but I want to get home as soon as I can.’

Joy frowned at her. ‘You still need to eat,’ she said. ‘Don’t you know that your brain works better when you take breaks? I promise we’ll work on it all afternoon if necessary, but please, come to lunch.’

It was hard to say no to yourself.

At lunch, Miss Bat and Mr Rowan-Webb claimed Hecate’s company.

‘If there’s _anything_ I can do for you, my dear,’ Miss Bat said, ‘please just ask. I can never thank you enough for bringing my Algernon back to me!’

Hecate considered it. ‘There is… something,’ she said. ‘If it wouldn’t be an imposition.’

‘Anything,’ Miss Bat said.

‘What… happened to Ada?’ Hecate asked. ‘What made her this way? In my reality, she’s… so full of love and lightness, so happy and gentle. And here, she’s…’

‘She’s not,’ Miss Bat finished. She sighed. ‘Things began to change after she tried to take her mother’s power. She must have been eleven or so, I suppose. Of course it could never have worked, a witch that young, and her mother as powerful as she was. It blew up in her face, and some of us thought that was lesson enough. But Alma was spooked. She’d been worried about Agatha for a while, but she’d always thought Ada was the steady one… it shocked her that Ada had it in her even to try. So she cracked down - not just on Ada herself but on the whole school. She focused everything on providing an environment of discipline and responsibility for Ada, no matter what it meant for the other girls. Constant tests and scrutiny, increased security… all of the girls were monitored every second, and the atmosphere of the whole school changed. Agatha got even worse under the pressure, and she was sent to Wormwood the next year. Ada, I think, was afraid that she had only narrowly escaped the same fate. After that she tried even harder to live up to her mother’s expectations. I always thought Ada had it in her to be an exceptional headmistress, if she only trusted herself a little more, but Agatha being sent away seemed to break her. She dedicated herself to fitting into the mould her mother had made for her, and when she inherited the school she kept everything the same. Some of us have tried to suggest changes over the years, but she won’t hear of it.’

‘Oh, Ada…’ said Hecate. 

The thought of it made her want to cry. Her bright, wholehearted Ada, punished out of all proportion for a childhood infraction, her passion for life crushed under the weight of it. No wonder she wouldn’t let anyone help her, no wonder she was keeping her fears about this inspection to herself.

The thought preoccupied her all afternoon, as they worked slowly through potion combinations to discover the one that had sent her here. Joy was as focused and meticulous as she was with this kind of work, her notes as detailed. They broke only briefly to bring some dinner to the lab, Joy now as intent on solving the puzzle as Hecate. They barely spoke, not needing to communicate in words.

Late in the evening, Joy let out a laugh, and Hecate jumped.

‘I think I have it!’ she said. ‘Come and see.’

Hecate peered at the potion Joy had been mixing, and at the notes she had taken. Her work was clear and thorough. This might be the one.

‘We’ll need to do more testing, of course, before we can use it on you,’ said Joy. ‘I won’t be responsible for sending you into the unknown again. It’s late. Let’s sleep on it and start fresh in the morning.’

As much as Hecate hated the idea of another night away from Ada, her vision was beginning to blur and her head ached, so she followed Joy back to her room and they both fell almost immediately asleep.

* * *

Something made a chiming sound. Joy sat up in bed, and Hecate, still mostly asleep, turned to see what she was doing. The light from her maglet lit up her worried face.

‘It’s a message from Dimity,’ Joy said, dropping the maglet and getting out of bed, sliding into slippers and dressing gown. ‘Sybil Hallow is missing. Dimity just did her last check of the corridor and Sybil wasn’t in her bed. None of the girls on that corridor have seen her either.’

Hecate got up too and followed Joy out, conjuring herself a robe as she went.

‘She’s confounding my discovery spell,’ Dimity said, when they arrived.

Joy nodded grimly. ‘All the Hallow girls are good at hiding. This happened with Esme once or twice when she was younger.’

‘So we have no way to know whether she’s even still in the grounds,’ Dimity said.

‘Is her familiar gone too?’ Hecate asked.

‘Yes, that was the first thing I checked,’ said Dimity.

Footsteps came around the corner, and Ada appeared. In her nightclothes, she looked a little more like the Ada Hecate knew, a little softer. 

‘What the hell is going on?’ she demanded, ruining that impression.

‘Sybil Hallow’s missing,’ said Dimity. ‘Discovery spell won’t work. I think we’re going to have to do it the old-fashioned way and send out search parties.’

‘This _would_ happen right before the inspection,’ Ada said. ‘All right, summon the rest of the teachers, and the oldest girls. They can go in pairs for safety.’

She briskly outlined a search pattern that would cover the castle and grounds. Her voice was remarkably calm but Hecate could see her fear in the way she held herself. But there was no time to worry about Ada now - they had a missing child to find.

Hecate’s assigned route took her into the woods. The night was moonless, so she made a ball of light and carried it to illuminate her way. In the distance, owls screeched and small things rustled in the undergrowth. Leaves and twigs crackled under her feet as she walked, and the wind was chilly.

The night wore on. She looked for signs that Sybil had been here, but if she had, she’d covered her tracks. Hecate walked as silently as she knew how, peering into every shadow, investigating every unexpected sound.

Then at last, in the distance, what sounded like a sob.

She approached slowly, carefully.

‘Sybil?’ she asked. ‘Is that you?’

And then a small shape flung itself from the trees into her arms.

‘Oh! Miss Hardbroom!’ Sybil gasped. ‘I… I…’

‘It’s all right,’ said Hecate, venturing to stroke Sybil’s hair. ‘You’re safe now.’

Sybil held her tighter and cried, and it occurred to Hecate that, in Joy’s nightclothes, with her hair down, the girl had probably mistaken her for her counterpart. None of the girls hugged _her_ and cried, in the normal way of things.

It hardly mattered though. Hecate wasn’t completely inexperienced at giving comfort, and the most important thing was that Sybil was found. Hecate silently sent a signal to the other searchers, and waited a couple of minutes for the sobbing to subside.

‘I’m going to transfer us back to the castle now,’ said Hecate.

Sybil looked up at her, eyes glassy and wide. ‘Do you have to?’

‘Of course I have to,’ said Hecate. ‘You can’t stay out here by yourself.’

That set off a fresh wave of tears, in the middle of which Hecate smoothly transferred them to the kitchen, where blankets and hot drinks had been organised.

As she got Sybil settled with a mug of tea the size of her head, the other searchers gradually transferred in, including Ada, whose face was set in a grimace rather than the look of relief the others wore.

‘Sybil,’ said Dimity gently, ‘did something happen? Did someone do something to make you need to run away?’

‘I… I just didn’t want to let everyone down,’ said Sybil in a tiny voice.

Joy knelt beside her and took her hand. ‘Sweetheart, you’re not letting anyone down.’

‘But I’m not good enough… I didn’t want to ruin the inspection. I know how important it is that we’re all perfect. I thought it would be better if I just… wasn’t here.’

Ada made a soft, pained sound that Hecate felt like a blow. Footsteps hurried to the door, and when Hecate turned, Ada was already gone.

Joy and Dimity seemed to have everything in hand here, so she followed Ada.

* * *

The door to the office was closed. That had never stopped Hecate before, but now she wondered if she ought to knock. But then, this Ada would probably refuse her entry. 

The room was warded against transference spells, so instead she pushed the door open.

Ada, standing by the window, whirled to see who had entered. ‘Get out!’ she said. ‘Who gave you permission to be here?’

‘I just thought… you might need a friend, just now,’ said Hecate.

The room was so different. The desk sat in the same spot, but there were no comfortable chairs, no little ornaments, no flowers.

Ada peered at her. ‘You’re the other one, aren’t you?’

‘Yes,’ Hecate confirmed. ‘Where I come from… I know you. Very well. And I can see the pain you’re in. I don’t have it in me to ignore it.’

‘I’m not in pain,’ Ada said, turning back to the window. ‘Everything is fine. Everything will be fine once this inspection is over…’

‘But it isn’t fine, is it?’ Hecate said. ‘You’re lonely - how could you not be? Who do you turn to for help? Who do you share your problems with?’

‘My burdens are my own. I don’t need any help to carry them.’

‘I used to think that way,’ Hecate said softly, crossing the room and climbing the steps to be nearer to Ada. ‘And you… your counterpart was the one who helped me to begin to see that I was wrong. She was so gentle with me, so patient…’

‘And I’m not!’ She turned to Hecate, eyes blazing. ‘Don’t worry, you don’t have to say it! I know how they see me!’

‘Ada…’

‘Sybil Hallow… she was so… the way she… Ada covered her mouth, holding back a sob. ‘Does she really think I’d rather she was _missing_ than imperfect? I only ever wanted… I just wanted…’

‘You wanted to keep them safe,’ Hecate said. 

‘And look how well that worked! Sybil could have fallen into the river, or been hit by a car, or… or anything! I only ever wanted to protect them, all of them, and instead I sent Sybil into danger because she was… because she…’

Ada stopped, and for a long moment she stood silently, tears pouring down her face. Hecate approached slowly, as though Ada was a wild animal in a trap, and took her hand.

‘I just wanted to protect them from making my mistakes,’ Ada whispered. ‘I tried to steal my mother’s powers, and that crime has haunted me every moment since. If I’d had better self-control, if I’d been… if I’d just been _better_ …’

‘You were a _child_ ,’ Hecate said fiercely. ‘Children make mistakes.’

‘When those mistakes involve magic, they can be fatal,’ Ada said, pulling her hand free and stepping backward from Hecate again.

Hecate longed to follow her, to wipe the tears from her cheeks. But this version of Ada wouldn’t welcome it. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘Believe me, I know. But the mistakes will be made regardless, no matter how hard we may try to prevent them. All we can do is help them through the consequences as best we can.’

‘Perhaps you’re right,’ Ada said. ‘I’ve spent all this time trying to make everything perfect… and look how it’s ended up. Girls fleeing in terror from my expectations…’ 

‘It doesn’t have to be this way.’

‘It’s too late,’ Ada said, wrapping her arms tight around herself. ‘I don’t even know how I’d begin to change, now.’

‘It’s not too late,’ Hecate said, with quiet passion.

Ada rounded on her, her voice rising until it cracked. ‘I’m not like your precious Ada! I can’t be… gentle and patient, like her! I can’t!’

She stood inches from Hecate, her breath coming in shallow gasps, her eyes wild.

She was right, this wasn’t her Ada - but it still felt natural, now, to put a hand on her shoulder. 

‘Nobody is asking you to be,’ Hecate said, with all the tenderness Ada brought out in her. ‘But I promise you, if you can find the courage to try something new, it will be worth it.’

‘It seems so impossible…’

Hecate nodded. ‘I know. That’s how it was for me at first, too. But having someone there at your side helps.’

‘I can’t… all the other teachers despise me. None of them would want…’

‘They don’t despise you,’ said Hecate, with a wry smile. ‘They’re just a little… wary of approaching you. You’ve made it so clear that you want to do everything alone.’

Ada sighed, as though the magnitude of the task overwhelmed her. 

‘If I may make a suggestion?’ said Hecate.

Ada almost laughed at that. ‘You may as well. You’ve certainly told me everything else you think.’

Hecate put her free hand on Ada’s other shoulder and met her eyes. ‘Choose a deputy headmistress.’

‘Absolutely not.’

‘It’s too much work for one person alone,’ Hecate persisted. ‘But with two, you can share the load, share ideas, have someone to talk to when you need it. I know it’s not how you’re accustomed to working… but please, consider it?’

Ada hesitated, then nodded once, but firmly. Under Hecate’s hands, her shoulders relaxed a little.

‘Excellent,’ said Hecate. ‘Now… this has been a stressful night for all of us. I’m sure Sybil Hallow isn’t the only one in need of a nice cup of tea.’

This Ada, apparently, didn’t keep tea things in her office, but Hecate summoned some from the kitchen and handed Ada a cup, which she took without protest.

‘Now,’ said Hecate, sitting on the top step and patting the space beside her, ‘tell me all about this inspection.’

And Ada sat down and drank her tea and told Hecate her fears, until daylight slowly spilled into the room.

* * *

There were probably better ways to begin a school inspection than with half the teachers exhausted and a refugee from another timeline hanging around, but from what Hecate could tell, it was going reasonably smoothly regardless.

Once Joy’s teaching had been inspected that morning, she and Hecate spent the rest of the day continuing their work, carefully testing combinations of potions. By evening, they were almost certain they had the solution - a sort of backwards version of the potion that had sent Hecate here, with a few drops of her blood to tell the magic which was the right timeline to return her to.

‘We’ll try it after dinner,’ said Joy. ‘It needs half an hour to settle, anyway.’

At dinner, more people than Hecate had expected were eager to say goodbye to her. Miss Bat and Mr Rowan-Webb thanked her again for reuniting them, and Sybil Hallow gave her a hug. Dimity’s hug was more like a rib-crushing squeeze, but Hecate found she didn’t mind it. 

She looked for Ada, but she didn’t seem to be there. Hecate sent her a message instead, to let her know that she would be leaving soon.

She was waiting in the lab when Hecate and Joy headed there after dinner.

‘Oh!’ said Joy. ‘Miss Cackle! I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were…’

‘It’s all right,’ said Ada. ‘I just came to say goodbye. And… to say that we’ve been found satisfactory by the inspector.’

‘Oh, that’s excellent news!’ said Hecate. ‘Congratulations.’

‘I… must admit, it’s a weight off my mind,’ Ada said. ‘Hecate… thank you. You’ve given me a lot to consider.’ She reached out to take Hecate’s hands.

‘I’m glad,’ Hecate said. ‘I’ll be thinking of you.’

Ada laughed. ‘I imagine I’ll think of you often, too.’

Ada’s hands in hers felt the same as they always had, and the feeling that surged through Hecate was part fondness, part longing. She held on for a long moment, not quite ready to let go.

‘Good luck,’ said Ada, as they moved apart.

‘Take care of yourself, won’t you?’ Joy said, and she wrapped her arms tight around Hecate. 

‘I will,’ promised Hecate, hugging her back. ‘You too.’

There was nothing more to do or say.

The potion required skin contact to take effect. Hecate stood at the cauldron, hands braced on the edge of it, her heart beating faster than it ought to. It was one thing to be hurled through time by accident, but to attempt it on purpose… what if something went wrong? What if she never found her way home to Ada?

No. She and Joy had made this potion together. It would work.

She took a deep breath, and plunged her hands into the potion.

The world swayed before her, and began to dim. The last thing she saw before it faded entirely was Joy and Ada, standing side by side.

* * *

She could hear Ada’s voice, as though from very far away.

‘Hecate? Can you hear me?’

‘Ada…’ she breathed, and as things began to come into focus, Ada’s eyes were the first thing she saw, blue and bright as aquamarines, and then her smile - oh, Hecate had missed that smile! It got bigger when Hecate smiled back.

And then, she could feel Ada’s hand closing around hers, and the world came back a little more and she saw that she was lying on the floor of her lab - her own lab, looking precisely as she’d left it - and Ada was kneeling beside her. A warm tear splashed down from Ada’s eyes onto Hecate’s cheek.

‘I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again…’ Ada said, and Hecate pushed herself to sitting so that she could wrap her arms around her, pull her close and hold her. In her arms, Ada felt just as she remembered.

‘I’m here now,’ she said. ‘Everything’s all right. Don’t cry.’

* * *

‘I suppose,’ said Hecate, a little later when they were sitting in Ada’s office with a pot of tea, ‘the potion spill was all cleared up?’

Ada nodded. ‘Nothing was salvageable, I’m afraid. Dimity and I managed to piece together what had happened, but without knowing which timeline you’d been sent to, we had know way of getting you back. I was so afraid you’d ended up somewhere awful. I didn’t know if anyone would be there to help you…’

‘It was a nice enough place to be for a few days,’ said Hecate.

‘It must have been interesting to see how things could have been different.’

Hecate smiled. ‘Interesting? Yes. I learned a great deal, I think.’ She took a sip of her tea, savouring the safe familiarity of this moment - Ada sitting across from her, in this room that felt like home. ‘But I’m glad to be back where I’m meant to be.’

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [colors i can't see with anyone else](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28245090) by [cassiopeiasara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassiopeiasara/pseuds/cassiopeiasara)




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